January 11, 2010

Yet Another Fusion "Breakthrough"

What's the old saw, "Nuclear fusion is 20-30 years in the future -- and always will be" ? Here's another example, from the University of Florida, as reported in the New Zealand Herald (huh?).

The University of Florida have taken a different tack, by putting hydrogen and boron fuel into an accelerator that fires them towards each other at incredibly high velocities. When the hydrogen and boron 11 atoms smash into each other, they fuse, producing fast moving helium nuclei whose motion is converted into electricity.

It is interesting that they would be running a story now based upon a 1997 paper. (N. Rostoker, M.W.Binderbauer, H.J. Monkhorst, Colliding Beam Fusion Reactor, Science 178:1419-22, 21 November, 1997). Does the mail take that long to reach New Zealand?